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Latitudes of Melt
This bountiful, magical novel opens with the discovery by two fishermen of a baby floating in a cradle on an ice pan in the North Atlantic off the coast of Newfoundland in 1912. To the small fishing community into which the foundling is adopted, Aurora, as they name her with her shock of white hair, one blue eye and one brown is clearly enchanted. But it is not until Aurora is herself an old woman that she learns the heart-wrenching story behind her miraculous survival on the ice."
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
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1084 people want to read
About the author
Joan Clark
38 books52 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Joan Clark BA, D.Litt (hon.) (née MacDonald)is a Canadian fiction author.
Born in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, Clark spent her youth in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. She attended Acadia University for its drama program, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree with English major in 1957.[1] She has worked as a teacher
Clark lived in Alberta for two decades and attended Edmonton's University of Alberta. She and Edna Alford started the literary journal Dandelion in that province in the mid-1970s. She eventually returned to Atlantic Canada, settling in Newfoundland.
Joan Clark's early work consisted primarily of literature for children and young adults, such as Girl of the Rockies (1968), The Hand of Robin Squires (1977), and The Moons of Madeleine (1987). By contrast, her 1982 short-story collection, From a High Thin Wire, is a decidedly mature and sometimes sexually charged work. This volume was revisited by Clark and republished with revisions in 2004. Clark has a reputation for continuously revising her works even after their initial printing.
Joan Clark's next publication for adult readers was The Victory of Geraldine Gull (1988), a novel examining the clashes of culture and religion between Cree, Ojibwa, and white communities in Niska, a village in Hudson Bay. The Victory of Geraldine Gull was a finalist for the GOVERNOR GENERAL'S AWARD and the Books in Canada First Novel Award. Clark published a second collection of short stories, Swimming Towards the Light, in 1990. The following year she was presented with the Marian Engel Award, recognizing her entire body of work.
Eiriksdottir: A Tale of Dreams and Luck (1993) was the first of two novels by Clark based on the Viking presence in Newfoundland. The novel focuses on Freydis Eiriksdottir, daughter of Eirik the Red and sister to Leif ("The Lucky") Eirikson. The Dream Carvers (1995) follows the adventures of Thrand, a Norse child.
Clark wrote her first published novel as a young stay-at-home mother, writing in longhand during her infant son’s naptimes. “I had never written fiction before and was amazed that I had been walking around without knowing that there was a story inside my head. That joy of discovery has kept me writing ever since.”
Clark served on the jury at the 2001 Giller Prize.
Clark lives in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.
Joan Clark BA, D.Litt (hon.) (née MacDonald)is a Canadian fiction author.
Born in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, Clark spent her youth in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. She attended Acadia University for its drama program, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree with English major in 1957.[1] She has worked as a teacher
Clark lived in Alberta for two decades and attended Edmonton's University of Alberta. She and Edna Alford started the literary journal Dandelion in that province in the mid-1970s. She eventually returned to Atlantic Canada, settling in Newfoundland.
Joan Clark's early work consisted primarily of literature for children and young adults, such as Girl of the Rockies (1968), The Hand of Robin Squires (1977), and The Moons of Madeleine (1987). By contrast, her 1982 short-story collection, From a High Thin Wire, is a decidedly mature and sometimes sexually charged work. This volume was revisited by Clark and republished with revisions in 2004. Clark has a reputation for continuously revising her works even after their initial printing.
Joan Clark's next publication for adult readers was The Victory of Geraldine Gull (1988), a novel examining the clashes of culture and religion between Cree, Ojibwa, and white communities in Niska, a village in Hudson Bay. The Victory of Geraldine Gull was a finalist for the GOVERNOR GENERAL'S AWARD and the Books in Canada First Novel Award. Clark published a second collection of short stories, Swimming Towards the Light, in 1990. The following year she was presented with the Marian Engel Award, recognizing her entire body of work.
Eiriksdottir: A Tale of Dreams and Luck (1993) was the first of two novels by Clark based on the Viking presence in Newfoundland. The novel focuses on Freydis Eiriksdottir, daughter of Eirik the Red and sister to Leif ("The Lucky") Eirikson. The Dream Carvers (1995) follows the adventures of Thrand, a Norse child.
Clark wrote her first published novel as a young stay-at-home mother, writing in longhand during her infant son’s naptimes. “I had never written fiction before and was amazed that I had been walking around without knowing that there was a story inside my head. That joy of discovery has kept me writing ever since.”
Clark served on the jury at the 2001 Giller Prize.
Clark lives in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 120 reviews
February 11, 2011
I read this book in 2002, I remember it because I was a bookseller back then and 2001 and 2002 were magical years in the book industry in Newfoundland and really around the world. Latitudes of Melt takes place in Newfoundland. Imagine the day night the Titantic goes down off the coast of Newfoundland, two local fisherman find a baby bundled up and adrift on an pan of ice. The fisherman take the little baby ashore and after search and placing ads in all the international papers no one claims the baby so one of the fisherman and his family adopts the baby. Latitude of Melt is that baby's story.
The book is an experience, captures the city of St. John's and surrounding areas, I couldn't put it down. I don't want to say anything else so I won't give it away. Pick up this book and let it surprise you.
The book is an experience, captures the city of St. John's and surrounding areas, I couldn't put it down. I don't want to say anything else so I won't give it away. Pick up this book and let it surprise you.
July 26, 2012
I'm probably going to be universally hated for this review, but I really did not like this book. And I was so disappointed. I loved the cover. I loved the blurb. I loved the title. I loved the beginning. So where did it go wrong?
The book is set around a little girl who is found on an ice pan in the North Atlantic, right around the time the Titanic sinks. This was the time when I clicked and bought this, after finding it for a semi-reasonable price. The book is described as magical by many reviewers, but it bored me upon reading. I even skipped ahead of my normal order of read-the-books-in-the-order-you-get-them, probably as I initally thought I'd lost this book when reorganising my books.
For me, this book had one major downfall - the amount of description. I notoriously dislike books with pages and pages of description and just a few lines of dialogue thrown in, so the readers remember there are actually characters. This just went on and on. I got halfway through it, and even that was a sheer struggle.
For a book that's just over 300 pages long, it did feel really rushed. Years pass in a matter of pages, sometimes with letters spanning the years that are passing, but I felt there should be a lot more happening in the book. Instead it just plods along, with no action. I felt that there should have been more done to attempt to find out if the girl had been on the Titanic and had been saved by her parents. Why wasn't she put into a lifeboat in that case? Were her parents in third class perhaps, and didn't get up on deck until after the lifeboats had gone? Why did they send her out into the Atlantic by herself, if they were going to leave no clues as to her name, her origins, etc? She could easily have drowned and they would be none the wiser. Perhaps she was abducted, like the infamous Navratil boys? There were so many questions raised in this book, and I'm sure it was all building up to a satisfying climax, but unfortunately, I didn't get that far. I got up to the point where Aurora (the little girl) was now a widow, and getting on a bit.
Then there was the whole palaver of her being "different" to the other villagers. Her eyes were two different colours (which frankly, kept an image of David Bowie constantly in my head), she never felt the cold, she had white hair (there's an albino David Bowie now) and she liked pressing flowers. Other characters described her as being touched by the fairies, but yet again, this was never expanded upon, leaving me feeling frustrated.
The blurb proclaims this novel as being "gorgeously spun" and says that the "unravelling of Aurora's origins involves sea crossings, connects continents, and spans decades, laying down layers filled with shipwrecks, icebergs and fairies". This also attracted me to the book, but the book does not deliver.
I'm disappointed in the book and myself to be giving up on it so easily, but to be halfway through a book and still struggling to keep track of what is happening and then the story moves so slowly, weighed down by endless description, it doesn't make a good book in my opinion. Yet this book seems to be getting four star reviews wherever else I look. But I don't agree, and I have to be honest.
The book is set around a little girl who is found on an ice pan in the North Atlantic, right around the time the Titanic sinks. This was the time when I clicked and bought this, after finding it for a semi-reasonable price. The book is described as magical by many reviewers, but it bored me upon reading. I even skipped ahead of my normal order of read-the-books-in-the-order-you-get-them, probably as I initally thought I'd lost this book when reorganising my books.
For me, this book had one major downfall - the amount of description. I notoriously dislike books with pages and pages of description and just a few lines of dialogue thrown in, so the readers remember there are actually characters. This just went on and on. I got halfway through it, and even that was a sheer struggle.
For a book that's just over 300 pages long, it did feel really rushed. Years pass in a matter of pages, sometimes with letters spanning the years that are passing, but I felt there should be a lot more happening in the book. Instead it just plods along, with no action. I felt that there should have been more done to attempt to find out if the girl had been on the Titanic and had been saved by her parents. Why wasn't she put into a lifeboat in that case? Were her parents in third class perhaps, and didn't get up on deck until after the lifeboats had gone? Why did they send her out into the Atlantic by herself, if they were going to leave no clues as to her name, her origins, etc? She could easily have drowned and they would be none the wiser. Perhaps she was abducted, like the infamous Navratil boys? There were so many questions raised in this book, and I'm sure it was all building up to a satisfying climax, but unfortunately, I didn't get that far. I got up to the point where Aurora (the little girl) was now a widow, and getting on a bit.
Then there was the whole palaver of her being "different" to the other villagers. Her eyes were two different colours (which frankly, kept an image of David Bowie constantly in my head), she never felt the cold, she had white hair (there's an albino David Bowie now) and she liked pressing flowers. Other characters described her as being touched by the fairies, but yet again, this was never expanded upon, leaving me feeling frustrated.
The blurb proclaims this novel as being "gorgeously spun" and says that the "unravelling of Aurora's origins involves sea crossings, connects continents, and spans decades, laying down layers filled with shipwrecks, icebergs and fairies". This also attracted me to the book, but the book does not deliver.
I'm disappointed in the book and myself to be giving up on it so easily, but to be halfway through a book and still struggling to keep track of what is happening and then the story moves so slowly, weighed down by endless description, it doesn't make a good book in my opinion. Yet this book seems to be getting four star reviews wherever else I look. But I don't agree, and I have to be honest.
March 27, 2018
I am drawn to books set in Newfoundland. I will always chose a Newfoundland setting when I am perusing a selection of novels, if one is present. I grew up in a residential section of a city which in no way resembles any of the places I have visited in the pages of these novels. There is something indefinable about the descriptors of the land and lives lived in these books I have read. The Latitudes of Melt did not disappoint me. The premise was unusual enough to grab my attention but realistic enough to keep me interested in reading on. The characters delighted me with the strength they showed when faced with tragic circumstances. A gentle humour flowed through the novel which balanced the sad parts well. I don’t want to add any spoilers - this is a novel for anyone who likes a story which doesn’t have to have a tidy conclusion .
November 14, 2019
Four stars for this novel's lyrical beauty and powerful imagery. Also I love the Newfoundland setting and history, which is unique in all the world. The plot, which concerns a baby rescued from the sea, could have been compelling. However, the story meanders along like a sluggish stream with some stagnant side pools and circular eddies that don't contribute to the overall flow other than showing off the author's gift for description. The best scene is the pivotal one where the baby's origins are revealed.
February 5, 2013
Clark takes an intriguing premise, packed with rich possibilities, and manages to craft a story as dull as dishwater. Two dimensional characters with whom you never feel any connection. Detailed descriptions of every effing thing they do in the run of a day: "Then she made some lunch. Then she did the dishes. Then she read a book." The writing style is amateurish and plodding and the narrative switches between omniscient and first person with no warning or stylistic purpose. This is extremely irritating by the end of the novel, which ends with such an anti-climatic ending that you will want to toss the book across the room. I read the entire thing simply because I had to see if there was any reward for all of that torture and I was interested in the history and culture of Newfoundland. This is historical fiction at its worst. Oh, yes, and that "magical" thing in the blurb is a total lie. There are semi-supernatural things that happen in the story but they are so artlessly described that all magic is erased, and they are never really explored in any meaningful way.
February 14, 2019
Snippets:
P14 "A passionate Newfoundlander, she knew their history was one of handing over to others what was rightfully theirs."
P104 "Unlike Newfoundland, which was raw and untouched, there was something finished about England, as if everything that needed doing had been done, and now it rested fully imagined and complete, every inch of it having been thoroughly examined."
P300, at Cobh, Ireland, watching the emigrant ships: "A reminder that for those left behind a ship's disappearance on the horizon was a kind of death."
The baby Aurora is in the ocean in a basket on an ice pan when she is found by 2 fishermen at the time of the Titanic's sinking. She is taken to one of their homes and informally adopted by the family, the only girl among brothers.
Aurora is a complex character, unusual in appearance and her interests, walking the barrens collecting flowers to press, loving poetry and animals.
The untangling of Aurora's origins is well done, and ultimately satisfying.
Time and place are captured beautifully and characters are complex and interesting and fully dimensional
A character working in the antarctic, suicidal, is memorable. Love and loss and reconciliation are threaded throughout.
A beautiful book to be savoured in its depiction of time, place and unforgettable characters.
5/5
P14 "A passionate Newfoundlander, she knew their history was one of handing over to others what was rightfully theirs."
P104 "Unlike Newfoundland, which was raw and untouched, there was something finished about England, as if everything that needed doing had been done, and now it rested fully imagined and complete, every inch of it having been thoroughly examined."
P300, at Cobh, Ireland, watching the emigrant ships: "A reminder that for those left behind a ship's disappearance on the horizon was a kind of death."
The baby Aurora is in the ocean in a basket on an ice pan when she is found by 2 fishermen at the time of the Titanic's sinking. She is taken to one of their homes and informally adopted by the family, the only girl among brothers.
Aurora is a complex character, unusual in appearance and her interests, walking the barrens collecting flowers to press, loving poetry and animals.
The untangling of Aurora's origins is well done, and ultimately satisfying.
Time and place are captured beautifully and characters are complex and interesting and fully dimensional
A character working in the antarctic, suicidal, is memorable. Love and loss and reconciliation are threaded throughout.
A beautiful book to be savoured in its depiction of time, place and unforgettable characters.
5/5
April 12, 2025
Well written by a Newfoundland author this fictionalized account of a child survivor of the Titanic sinking takes the reader on a journey to Ireland, the bottom of the ocean and through parts of Newfoundland. I really enjoyed the melodic writing style and while I don’t normally enjoy faeries and spirits in a book, the presence of both were woven into the story, revealing cultural elements and the middle part between life and death. Recommend!
May 19, 2017
Sometimes, I felt this book deserved five stars, sometimes two. I would understand why some people would not like it, at places it was tedious and boring. I guess that the unusual beginning, the Aurora's childhood and mostly all the resumes and praise build up some misleading expectations, which eventually are left frustrated. Additionally there are these huge "stretches of life" where nothing exceptional happens (although I think the author transmitted beautifully what happens with so many women).
Another thing that I found annoying was the constant and unregulated switching of first person narrator to third person narrator. It was quite all right at the beginning but it is all very unbalanced and by the end of the book there was no difference in the style of narrating, whatsoever. There was also the brief appearance of this unlikable character and we are bored to death by her daily routines., only to see her disappear heroically and in full inconsistency with her previous actions.
What I liked in the book was the language, which was so beautiful without being pretentious. Several passages such as the one explaining how we reinvent and reemerge in times of grief, or about the quiet, ordinary joys of life were wonderfully written. Some of the male characters were so nice to read about. I, as someone, who has never been to Canada enjoyed the descriptions and the setting of Newfoundland and it made me crave to visit it.
Another thing that I found annoying was the constant and unregulated switching of first person narrator to third person narrator. It was quite all right at the beginning but it is all very unbalanced and by the end of the book there was no difference in the style of narrating, whatsoever. There was also the brief appearance of this unlikable character and we are bored to death by her daily routines., only to see her disappear heroically and in full inconsistency with her previous actions.
What I liked in the book was the language, which was so beautiful without being pretentious. Several passages such as the one explaining how we reinvent and reemerge in times of grief, or about the quiet, ordinary joys of life were wonderfully written. Some of the male characters were so nice to read about. I, as someone, who has never been to Canada enjoyed the descriptions and the setting of Newfoundland and it made me crave to visit it.
February 5, 2012
Beginning in 1912 with the discovery of a baby floating on an ice pan, and ending in the 1990's, this is the story of that baby's life as she is adopted by the family of the man who found her, grows up, marries and has a family of her own. It is also the story of the great changes in Newfoundland in that time - the gradual decline of the outpost fishing communities, the loss of the fishery, joining Confederation, unemployment and migration, offshore oil, and the list goes on. At first I was going to say that this work of historical fiction hadn't really taught me much, just following Aurora's rather unusual but really rather mundane life, but then I realized that all of these issues had been touched on in the context of that life. Teaching history in a subtle way, without beating us over the head with it, is the mark of a very good teacher. With its constant narration changes, from first person to third person and back again, I did find this novel somewhat disjointed at times. I did enjoy it, though, especially at the end when we finally discover how Aurora came to be on that ice pan in the first place.
April 28, 2009
What an incredible read - I realize I think about this book many, many times since I read it a year ago. It's about a baby found in a basket on the ice near where the Titanic sank in 1912, who was taken by a fisherman back to his family and raised as his daughter. She grew up and had two children, one who became an ice scientist (it's his life and experiences that I enjoyed the most). The back story of Aurora's mother and her family was also very good.
August 9, 2008
I picked this book up in a quaint bookshop in Bayfield,Ontario, several years ago no. The shop allowed restive browsing with fire glowing, soft couches inviting a gentle relaxed scanning of covers and descriptions, but nothing beats the recommendation of the owner...
Enchanting, whimisical, beautiful...
Enchanting, whimisical, beautiful...
April 22, 2024
Schrijfstijl:3,5
Inhoud:4
Verhaal:2,5
Uitwerking/Opbouw:3,5
Inhoud:4
Verhaal:2,5
Uitwerking/Opbouw:3,5
October 24, 2021
A fabulously written story about 4 generations of a family living in Newfoundland. Involves culture, myth, economics and politics for a wonderful tale. I love the way she writes.
April 6, 2009
A beautifully written novel that gives you a strong setting and feeling of and for Newfoundland.
The novel is a story that follows the life of Aurora who as an infant was found floating in the ocean on an ice slab! In the beginning, Aurora's birthplace and history are a mystery to everyone. She is a child with white hair, pale skin and never feels the cold. She is a wanderer who has unusual connections with animals which leads the locals to believe she was left by 'fairies'.
The author paints an amazing ethereal picture of Aurora as a child, as a wife in her very human marriage to Tom and as a mother dealing with her complex relationship with her children.
I've come to have a great respect for 'down east' authors. This novel reminds me so much of the Bernice Morgan novels I read, 'Waiting for Time' and I can't remember the name of the other.
I am so astounded and touched by this story that I don't really know what else to say that would do it justice. So, from the back cover....
"This bountiful, magical novel opens when two fishermen discover a baby floating on an ice pan in the North Atlantic in 1912. Named Aurora, the baby grows up in the Drook, a small fishing outport in Newfoundland where she is regarded as mysterious and enchanted, a free spirit who does not quite belong. Who is the 'real' Aurora and where did she come from?
In this gorgeously spun novel, the unravelling of Aurora's origins involves sea crossings, connects continents, and spans decades, laying down layers filled with shipwrecks, icebergs and fairies. An exploration of love and loss, 'Latitudes of Melt' is an unforgettable evocation of Newfoundland's southern shore that combines the thrill of an altogether original story with remarkable writerly skill and power."
The novel is a story that follows the life of Aurora who as an infant was found floating in the ocean on an ice slab! In the beginning, Aurora's birthplace and history are a mystery to everyone. She is a child with white hair, pale skin and never feels the cold. She is a wanderer who has unusual connections with animals which leads the locals to believe she was left by 'fairies'.
The author paints an amazing ethereal picture of Aurora as a child, as a wife in her very human marriage to Tom and as a mother dealing with her complex relationship with her children.
I've come to have a great respect for 'down east' authors. This novel reminds me so much of the Bernice Morgan novels I read, 'Waiting for Time' and I can't remember the name of the other.
I am so astounded and touched by this story that I don't really know what else to say that would do it justice. So, from the back cover....
"This bountiful, magical novel opens when two fishermen discover a baby floating on an ice pan in the North Atlantic in 1912. Named Aurora, the baby grows up in the Drook, a small fishing outport in Newfoundland where she is regarded as mysterious and enchanted, a free spirit who does not quite belong. Who is the 'real' Aurora and where did she come from?
In this gorgeously spun novel, the unravelling of Aurora's origins involves sea crossings, connects continents, and spans decades, laying down layers filled with shipwrecks, icebergs and fairies. An exploration of love and loss, 'Latitudes of Melt' is an unforgettable evocation of Newfoundland's southern shore that combines the thrill of an altogether original story with remarkable writerly skill and power."
March 23, 2018
was swept away by the beauty of the land and likeness of the people but feel it fell short on some key elements and didn't quite go in a direction that answered questions that were seeded from the beginning. Was expecting a big climax but it fell short of this. Enjoyed this book though for its lovely imagery of the land and people. Want to visit Newfoundland someday!
August 15, 2015
I enjoyed this book - I was thinking of re-reading An Audience of Chairs (which I remember loving) by J. Clark but found this instead - an interesting plot and beautiful capture of Newfoundland setting.
March 14, 2009
A great story of one woman's history and mind, told through the experiences of her family, friends, and herself. Brief Titanic interlude.
December 21, 2015
The beginning was very enchanting but somewhere in the middle there was an overwhelming feeling of disconnect. The story picked up again towards the end after the great revelation.
October 11, 2022
My favourite novel. I recommend it to anyone that hasn't read it before!
September 9, 2020
I am not sure about this book. On the cover jacket of the book it talks about the novel being bountiful and magical. I am not really a fan of magic or is it magical realism. I did not find it magical nor was there any magical realism in it. I suppose the only real magic was surviving on an ice pan, shooing a polar bear out of the house and a brief mention or two of faeries. The story was really only about the life of Aurora, found as a baby on an ice flow, a survivor of the Titanic.
What I did not like about the book is that nothing much really happens, it just the story of a life and growing old in Newfoundland. Some might find that exciting, I found it to be just a nice story.
What I liked about the book, thank goodness it was not full of magical realism. I don't have a big problem with magical realism but it is not my first priority of reading material. I really liked the parts dealing with being a passenger on the Titanic, and also the brief bits on the survey team that was surveying the shipwreck.
I liked the descriptions of the coastal areas of Newfoundland, descriptions of ice and icebergs and how people lived in what seems like a very barren place. I liked that it did sound at all like the Newfoundland I visited many years ago, it really did sound like a foreign country.
I am not sure I really like the style of writing. Parts of the story seemed rather perfunctory. As already mentioned her chapter about the birth of Aurora and the sailing on the Titanic were the most interesting and seemed to have more life.
What I did not like about the book is that nothing much really happens, it just the story of a life and growing old in Newfoundland. Some might find that exciting, I found it to be just a nice story.
What I liked about the book, thank goodness it was not full of magical realism. I don't have a big problem with magical realism but it is not my first priority of reading material. I really liked the parts dealing with being a passenger on the Titanic, and also the brief bits on the survey team that was surveying the shipwreck.
I liked the descriptions of the coastal areas of Newfoundland, descriptions of ice and icebergs and how people lived in what seems like a very barren place. I liked that it did sound at all like the Newfoundland I visited many years ago, it really did sound like a foreign country.
I am not sure I really like the style of writing. Parts of the story seemed rather perfunctory. As already mentioned her chapter about the birth of Aurora and the sailing on the Titanic were the most interesting and seemed to have more life.
July 8, 2019
It is a story of Destiny, today we call them to star children, they have always been with us in history, the Author has woven a remarkable story or plotted a life, from her birth as a wise soul she is destined to leave the life that would have been so poverty-stricken and earthy to surviving the Titanic safely drifted by the waves to be found on ice, to a life that she has been sent to that gifted with love and the ability for her family now to let her be and an etheric being, of the world not in it.
The fact that she did not need to delve into where come from and as people thought had lack of ambition simply shows that the earth for her was a thing just done her ambition was the stars.
It is a delicately woven book in words showing what she thought how different she was and in a way how wise and gifted.
In a way centuries ago people accepted fairy children and many have come this way. I put the possibility that the Author has seen children like this or has encountered some. Far reaching book
The fact that she did not need to delve into where come from and as people thought had lack of ambition simply shows that the earth for her was a thing just done her ambition was the stars.
It is a delicately woven book in words showing what she thought how different she was and in a way how wise and gifted.
In a way centuries ago people accepted fairy children and many have come this way. I put the possibility that the Author has seen children like this or has encountered some. Far reaching book
July 15, 2019
At first, I didn't think I would like this since it seemed like it was going to be more of a 'fantasy' story which I thought might be a hard sell for me. While the beginning is a tad 'far-fetched' or "mystical" if you prefer, I found that it didn't put me off and I was soon caught up in the story and the characters. It is about a baby floating on a pan of ice after the Titanic sinks and being found and adopted by a Newfoundland family. The story is about her life and, subsequently the lives of her children... but also, it is a story about Newfoundland, I think and, since I lived there for 20 years, I found the book very very realistic and the story captivating. The author described the setting so well that I felt that I was back there while reading it. Liked the book so much that have sought out others by this author.
August 21, 2024
Joan Clark was a prolific author having written 32 books before she passed away last year, (and she also co-founded the literary journal Dandelion Review which I do know), and I am only just discovering her. This book "Latitudes of Melt" was found in the Airbnb where we are staying in Newfoundland and I am so glad to have read it, primarily because it is set in the small communities along Newfoundland's southern shore where we just spent a week or so, including Cape Race (famous because the Cape Race lighthouse received the distress call from the Titanic). The story is about a small baby who was found in a basket on an ice pan by two fishermen after the Titanic sank, and she was raised by a family on Newfoundland's southern shore and does not discover her true origins until very late in life when she was a grandmother.
June 12, 2025
One of the more interesting books I have read about Newfoundland. Not morosely depressing or weird magical realism like so many others I have read. Auroras life on the rugged coast was interesting start to finish. Having the Titanic portion told by klepto Stella with bits narrated by baby Aurora/Annie Rose turned out to be much more intriguing than if it had been told by Mary and despite my thinking of Stella ‘you just wait sweetie, those nicked spoons aren’t going to do you a damned bit of good’ it was nice to have her redeemed in the end. Narratives styles varied throughout the book making for interesting reading and I loved the title and how relevant it was to Newfoundland and the contents of the book itself. A 3½ star read for me.
November 22, 2021
This magical novel immersed me in Newfoundland with its rich culture which was exactly what I was hoping for as I have been fascinated with this area since childhood. It tells a tale of a woman with mythical origins, Aurora, and follows her from birth to death. The mysteries of icebergs and shipwrecks that are a part of life for Newfoundlanders was fascinating. I was a little bugged by different speakers showing up randomly with no introduction, but it took only a few sentences to figure out who was speaking. Also, the writing seemed a bit disjointed at times and it did have plodding moments, but nothing could kill the flavor of this beautiful story for me.
August 10, 2023
So much potential in this book as it started out, but it got bogged down at some point. I stayed with the story because: I wanted to know how Aurora got on that ice floe; and there were snippets of lovely, descriptive, haunting scenes that really evoked the ethereal component of her story. The story of Nancy just dribbled out, the child and the adult were not well explored. Stan’s story was not much better, didn’t need all that detail about them, didn’t tie into the over arch of the story. In spite of that, I got the mood of living in that part of the world at an earlier time.
January 27, 2017
I really enjoyed this book. It is more character- and setting-driven than plot driven, but the characters were solid, interesting, and felt 'real'. The setting too, was beautifully described and rendered in this book, becoming almost another character itself. I appreciated the attention to detail that Clark paid to developing the people and places in this book.
I will read other books by this author.
I will read other books by this author.
May 24, 2021
Although the story did not go the way I thought it would, I did enjoy it. The descriptions of Newfoundland, the harshness, the beauty, the unforgiving elements wove into the story really well. I could imagine the places the characters lived.
The interweaving of different characters POV and how the narrative crossed continents but circled the main character's life was well done.
The interweaving of different characters POV and how the narrative crossed continents but circled the main character's life was well done.
July 10, 2017
A magical tale about the life of a Titanic survivor--a baby placed on an ice pan who was saved and raised by Newfoundland fishermen. Since the popularity of Come From Away, this novel needs a second look by those interested in the life and times of those who live in this wonderful place.
June 6, 2018
Masterfully written! I think she could write about something inconsequential and still be interesting. Although the plot and characters are fascinating in themselves, it was such a pleasure to read something so brilliant.
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